Training Course Puts Seniors To Work New Bank Tellers Appreciate Jobs

People

Catherine Lanzetta had 16 years of banking experience, a quick mind and a knack with people, a good work record - and one big problem when she tried to find a job after relocating to Hollywood.

She was older than 55.

Sally Polakoff, of Lauderhill, found that getting the job was only half the battle. Previously working out of the New York Stock Exchange, Polakoff had been hired by a Broward County company. After two weeks on the job, she was going into the restroom one afternoon when she paused outside the door, hearing her name mentioned inside.

``Why did they hire that old woman?`` one of the young clerks was saying. Polakoff quit that afternoon.

So it`s not surprising that although Lanzetta, Polakoff and 10 other retirees are receiving extensive training for their new careers as bank tellers, they are a little nervous about making a new start. What if they misplace a few hundred dollars? What if the customers yell at them? And, most painful of all, what if their younger co-workers resent them?

One student already has her public relations program planned. ``I`m going to make up a name tag for myself,`` chuckles Rosalyn Miller, 65, of Margate, the class wit. ``It`s going to say: Be kind to your mother!``

Her classmates, who all are women except one, laugh with her. Not only are they mothers, most of them are grandmothers. But their teacher is confident they will make top-notch employees.

``Older workers are very dependable,`` said Nancy Smith, who teaches the class. ``They`re responsible and often more interested in complying with standards than younger people. And they do very well with the many older customers that come into businesses here.``

With 10 years` experience in banking administration, Smith is affiliated with Career Dynamics, a training firm based in Fort Lauderdale off Cypress Creek Road. Career Dynamics` teller training program is unique to Broward County; although the company is privately operated, the teller training is state-funded.

With state and federal agencies pleading for private industry`s help with social service issues, the Career Dynamics staff decided the time was right for their idea. ``I also came out of banking and the proposal grew from the fact that we knew there was a need for this,`` said Nancy Jones, one of Career Dynamics` three partners. ``It seemed like a nice marriage. The banks need the part-time people and the seniors need the jobs.``

The state administrators agreed and Career Dynamics was awarded a $218,000 grant from the Job Training Partnership Act for a nine-month pilot program. The firm contracted to recruit 175 people 55 years old or older for five sessions of five weeks each. After the students have been placed, Career Dynamics receives 57 percent of its funding. If they remain employed longer than 30 days, the remainder of the money is sent.

An individual can earn no more than $6,563 yearly, including all Social Security and interest payments, to be eligible for training. Assessment is made on an individual basis and, if married, the spouse`s income is not included.

The tellers will work part-time during the banks` peak hours, from approximately 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., five days a week. Because transportation is a problem for many older workers, they will be placed at branches as close to their homes as possible.

Several of the students came from Senior Aides, a national program that provides government-subsidized jobs for lower-income people over 55. Their reasons for switching from one senior employment to another?

``More money,`` says Miller, who also has been giving yoga lessons to earn extra money. ``As senior aides, we basically earn minimum wage.`` Miller believes her salary will increase from about $3.50 an hour to possibly more than $5 an hour.

Dan Duncan, director of Broward County`s Senior Aides Program, has recommended teller training to his aides. ``As our goal is to get our people off our payroll and into private employment, this is fantastic for all the aides who meet the qualifications,`` Duncan said. The major qualifying difference is that the bank trainees, unlike senior aides, must have had previous working experience.

To Duncan`s knowledge, Career Dynamics has the first private industry- government funded partnership program for the elderly in Broward County. ``It addresses a need that we always thought existed. Older people shouldn`t just be considered Social Security checks.``

With the first class graduating this month, Jones said she has seven banks that will interview the students. She plans to enlist others. ``Recruitment of seniors is what has been tough for us,`` she said. ``They are very skeptical. We tell them that we`re going to train them, find them a job and they don`t have to pay us anything. And they look at us like, `Sure you are.` ``